Press

Strong Towns | May 23, 2025 | Can Loosening Parking Rules Unlock Madison's Missing Middle

WORT 89.9FM | May 13, 2025 | Strong Towns Madison Wants To Eliminate Parking Madates

The City of Madison has introduced a new set of proposed zoning and regulatory changes aimed at reducing barriers to housing development and expanding housing options throughout the city. These Fall 2025 Housing Forward Proposals represent additional steps in removing regulatory roadblocks that have constrained housing supply, particularly for smaller or “missing middle” housing types. While they do not fully solve Madison’s housing affordability or supply crisis, they make important incremental progress.

Key Proposals

1. Increase Maximum Allowed Heights in Height Transition Areas

   • When commercial, mixed-use, or employment zones border residential districts, current rules require buildings to “step down” to just two stories (25 feet) near the boundary. Under the new proposal, the step-down height would instead align with the maximum height allowed in the residential zone being abutted. This change could allow additional stories along edges of new buildings—without altering zoning in more interior portions—while still maintaining buffer zones between more intense and less intense land‐uses. 

2. Allow Two Detached ADUs and Simplify Accessory Structure Rules

   • The current limit of one Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) per lot would be changed: properties could have two detached ADUs (but not both a detached and an attached ADU).

   • The proposal also removes detached ADU footprints from the maximum cumulative square footage cap placed on all detached accessory structures (such as garages and sheds). This gives homeowners more flexibility to build ADUs without needing to sacrifice other accessory building functions. 

3. Adjust Lot Area, Lot Width, and Alley-Attached Garage Rear Setback Minimums

   • Minimum lot size and lot width requirements in many residential zoning districts would be modestly reduced.

   • Requirements for the rear setback of alley-attached garages and attached single-family homes would be relaxed (for instance, allowing a three-foot rear setback in more districts). 

   • These changes make certain lot divisions more feasible, especially for deep lots or large corner lots. For example, the number of properties large enough to support a “backyard lot” division would increase significantly under the revised minimums. 

What These Changes Do Well

• Density without wholesale rezoning. Many proposals allow for more homes (or stories) in places already zoned for higher intensity (commercial, mixed use) or in lots with greater depth, without needing entirely new zoning. This is often a lower-friction way to add housing in places where infrastructure and services already exist.

• Flexibility for homeowners. The ADU changes and adjusted accessory structure rules give property owners more leeway to add housing units, which helps spread the burden of creating supply among many actors, not just developers.

• Better use of underutilized lots. Reduced lot sizes, relaxed width requirements, and eased setback rules help unlock opportunities in large deep lots, corner lots, and existing large residential lots that are now difficult to subdivide.

What These Changes Don’t (Yet) Do

• They don’t fully address missing middle housing in all form factors (e.g. cottage courts, multiplexes) or eliminate all restrictive zoning that requires large lots or setbacks. There remain districts where minimum lot sizes, width, or other dimensional constraints still limit what kinds of homes can be built.

• Parking mandates are untouched. None of the proposals tackle mandatory parking minimums, which often raise the cost of housing development significantly.

• Transit-oriented development overlay districts are future work. The proposals include notice of upcoming reforms in those areas, but as of now, those have not been fully enacted.

The conversation around the Williamson St rush hour lane closure has been extensive and nuanced. Visit this page for more information and FAQs.

The 2025 Housing Forward Proposals brought forward by the Mayor and several Alders are needed, incremental changes to housing policy that put Madison closer towards being a Housing-Ready City. We hope Alders will work to pass these reforms and continue to seek out opportunities to make it easier for neighborhoods to build incremental housing.

The three proposals align with three of Strong Town’s six housing ready policies.

1. Allow single-family home conversion to duplex, by right.

By allowing duplex or twin homes on most residential lots in Madison, we make it possible to get to the next increment of development in thousands of homes. Per the City, an additional 32,000 homes are now eligible for duplexes making it easier for neighborhoods to evolve as local needs change.

3. Legalize starter homes in all residential zones.

Introducing the ability to split deep, large lots into “flag lots” can help introduce starter homes into previously developed areas. For home owners with extra yard space and an interest in generating more value from their property, they can now split the lot and add a new home to rent or sell. By waiving Plan Commission approval if it meets all zoning requirements, it also streamlines the development process, reducing costs and increasing feasibility for potential developers.

6. Streamline the approval process.

Raising the threshold for “Conditional Use” permitting approval of small and medium sized housing developments in the Downtown Core and dense zoning districts helps bring certainty to developers of these projects while maintaining flexibility over larger projects. These areas are already designed for more dense buildings and by making more buildings eligible via “permitted use” (still following City guidelines) is a great way to speed up the approval process.

To become a fully Housing-Ready City, there are two more policies Madison can work to reform:

4. Eliminate minimum lot size requirements in existing neighborhoods. 

5. Repeal parking mandates for housing. Read our thoughts here.

Madison has already achieved the second housing ready policy: permit backyard cottages in all residential areas. 

It is inspiring to see a Mayor and so many Alders rise to the challenge of housing in Madison. When so many facets of the housing issue are out of municipal control, it’s even more critical to remove barriers at the local level. We look forward to seeing future policies that work to fully achieve these six listed policies.